On The Coast

Thursday afternoon, I made a spur of the moment decision, hopped on a kombi (travel van) with another volunteer from the North and made our way down to Swakopmund, a resort like coastal town.  I had no idea what Swakopmund would be like and I was quite surprised at what I found.  But first getting there. 

Again, things in Africa move a bit slower than in America.  So although I was in a kombi at 3:30 we didn’t leave the parking lot till 5.  That meant we had to stop in a town called Tsumep, because for many reasons, you really shouldn’t travel around after dark.  The next day we waited for a kombi in the early morning, but none arrived.  However, a nice looking white man pulled up in a truck with a cab and said he was on his way over to Swakop.  We took him up on his offer and climbed into the bed of his truck.  We figured it couldn’t be too much further; we had spent three hours driving the night before.  But we were wrong and the nine-hour ride left our bottoms bruised.  Even better was when another three passengers crammed into the bed with us.  One hiker pulled out a crumbled up ball of newspaper to reveal a nice snack of fresh moist grubs.  The motto goes “In Africa We Share” but I feel the right to reserve “In Africa we can politely decline.”  Another day maybe, but the hot and squished bed of the truck didn’t seem the ideal place for indulging on a new treat.  While they munched along, I noticed a little brown head poke out from the open newspaper.  He continued to climb out revealing large wings a fat black stinger.  For those of you that don’t know, I am terrified of bees.  And this one was huge and an inch from my knee.  The lady finally realized the wasp was in her food and flicked it out and onto my leg. Scared out of my mind, I scrambled and hit my leg, flicking it onto the window, where the other passenger picked it up and squished it in his hand.  My manliness went down a few notches in only a few minutes.

But back to Swakopmund.  Imagine a few blocks of the most genuine Bavarian style shops, eateries, and architecture, put that before a background of the Atlantic, and you have Swakop.  Pale yellows and creamy pinks and blues covered almost all of the buildings.  One doesn’t even have to eat the chocolate croissants or drink the boots of beer to be happy.  A simple walk around is quite relaxing.  Yet, I reflect back on my brief time there and have very mixed feelings on the town.  Walk into any bar or restaurant and your server will be black.  Now look around and observe that all of the customers are white.  This was the case in almost any building.  I understand that some things are hard to change, but Swakop still has some feel of segregation.  I know that this is the case in many places around the world, but coming from a place where I am the only white person around, it took me aback. Further, we spoke with some of the visitors and locals and discussed what we were doing in Africa.  We told them we were teaching, specifically in the northern part of Namibia.  Many laughed and joked about how “stupid” the northern Namibians are and that our efforts are in vain.

This ignorance kills me and at the same time lights a fire in me that makes me want to work harder.  My students are brilliant, friendly, and what’s more, they want an education.  Some walk miles to get to school.  They understand that an education will get them further in life.  That doesn’t seem so stupid to me.

Weekly Plan

History

European colonization- They will colonize a country (Xela) and take two territories, identifying why they chose those territories, for strategic purposes, economic, etc.

Cont. with the Scramble for Africa

English

Dream Poem

The students will be creating poems about their dreams and what they want to do in life.  I’ll be taking in my laptop tomorrow to show how music is poetry, specifically dream songs by their favorite artists (Jay-Z, Kanye West, etc.)